Summary
- Spotify reversed its decision to remove broad access to lyrics on its free tier.
- Non-paying users faced limitations on song lyric access, hinting at a push toward premium subscriptions.
- Despite some annoyances, Spotify continues to be a top choice for streaming music.
Spotify has been a big factor behind the music streaming world’s rise over the last decade. It was the first company to successfully build the software and infrastructure necessary for a wide user base, and even in the face of staunch competition today, it still reigns supreme. That’s not to say it hasn’t made a few head-scratching moves over the course of its existence, however. Back in May, non-subscribers lost the ability to see lyrics for all songs in the Spotify catalog, making the product’s free tier practically nonexistent. The company has now reversed that decision.
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A Spotify spokesperson confirmed with Engadget that the company will be “expanding lyrics availability for Spotify Free users” in the coming weeks. As for why Spotify made the decision to remove the feature in the first place, the spokesperson was a bit washy-washy, saying that Spotify is “always testing and iterating.” Realistically, Engadget reasoned, Spotify executives may have thought that removing lyrics availability would push people to its premium plans that had just been price-hiked.
Subscribing to Spotify Premium might be worth it
While the lyric-viewing feature wasn’t completely removed for non-paying customers, Spotify limited the number of songs they could listen to and follow along with to just three per month. This is not dissimilar to Spotify’s limit on the number of songs users on the free tier can skip, and combined with forcing shuffle mode without an active subscription, it might be worth upgrading to a premium subscription. Following the price hikes, a new (but selectively offered) “basic” plan has been added to the mix, but it costs the exact same as the premium tier did just one month ago.
Like we said, Spotify is an industry trailblazer, and there are a lot of positives that come with using it. Even with its fair share of problems, it should be at the top of anyone’s lists for music streaming services. It isn’t the only great streaming service, however. YouTube Music is one of the newest ones out there, being born from within the husk of Google Play Music. Apple iPhone users have a different option with Apple Music, and even though some people swear by it, we don’t think it’s the best service out there; it’s just the least annoying.
